Horticulturalist/Grower

Cameron's Nursery; Sydney; On-site; AUD 41,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Cameron’s Nursery in Arcadia, NSW, is seeking a full-time Horticulturalist/Grower to join the production team on site. You’ll work outdoors, manage plant health, nutrition, irrigation, and crop development, and take ownership after an initial learning period.

The role requires a horticulture qualification or equivalent, a current driver’s license, and a forklift/ChemCert background is advantageous. You’ll contribute ideas, lead small teams occasionally, and adapt to seasonal needs while keeping

Qualifications

• Horticulture qualification or equivalent experience.
• Active ChemCert and forklift licence (or willing to obtain).
• Flexible, proactive, and able to adapt to changing plans.

Responsibilities

• Walk, monitor and scout crops on a regular cycle and report issues.
• Carry out fertigation and nutrition as programmed; manage irrigation equipment.
• Lead by example and potentially direct small teams to achieve daily/weekly goals.
• Complete spray and fertiliser records in real time and document stock movements.
• Collaborate with team across potting, spacing, and grading per production plan.

Skills

Horticulture

Team leadership

Attention to detail

Education

Horticulture qualification

Tools

ChemCert

Forklift licence

NIASA accreditation

EcoHort accreditation

HACCP

WHS knowledge

Job description

Cameron’s Nursery, Arcadia NSW. Full time.

If you want to be handed a list and left to it, this is not a job for you. We want someone who walks the nursery with curiosity, who brings us ideas rather than waiting to be asked, and who wants a say in how we grow.

Horticulturalist/Grower

Cameron’s Nursery, Arcadia NSW. Full time.

If you want to be handed a list and left to it, this is not a job for you. We want someone who walks the nursery with curiosity, who brings us ideas rather than waiting to be asked, and who wants a say in how we grow.

Who is Cameron’s Nursery

Cameron’s Nursery is a family-owned wholesale production nursery based in Arcadia, North west Sydney. We grow high quality plants for the retail sector, landscaping and commercial projects, and were recently named New South Wales’ Best Large Production Nursery and Greenlife Employer of the Year.

We run modern production facilities under NIASA, EcoHort and Biosecure HACCP accreditation, with a continued focus on investing in equipment, infrastructure and the people who use them.

The Role

A full-time Horticulturalist/Grower based on site in Arcadia, you will support the production team to deliver high-quality products that Cameron’s Nursery is known for.

This is a hands on, outdoors role, and you will have opportunities to work throughout different departments of the business including potting, crop maintenance, pest & disease scouting, crop health, irrigation, propagation and dispatch. Your first two to three months are about learning the site, the plants and the programs. After this, there is an expectation that you will begin to start to take ownership of your work as well as running small teams from time to time providing horticultural support and advice to get tasks done.

What You’ll Do

Plant health

• Walk, monitor and scout crops on a regular cycle so a change is picked up early
• Identify and report pests, diseases and nutritional problems
• Raise what you find with the Site Team Leader
• Track whether a treatment has actually worked and if not; why not
• Handle, mix, store and apply chemicals safely and in accordance with spray plans and WHS procedures
• Work to integrated pest management principles and plans, including biological controls

Nutrition and irrigation

• Carry out fertigation and nutrition as the program sets out
• Support the implementation of the irrigation plan, also repairing and maintaining irrigation equipment
• Adjust timing and volume within the program for the conditions
• Report and recommend any changes to the programs based on your observations

Continuous Improvement of the Growing Process

• Watch how the plants respond and feed that back to the business
• Bring ideas on what could be done differently, and why
• Recommend changes to nutrition, irrigation or treatment where you can see a reason for it

Records and compliance

• Use our systems and programs to Complete spray and fertiliser records in real time
• Record what you find when scouting via the appropriate platform
• Use programs and systems to record stock movements, wastage etc

Being part of a team

• Work with the team on potting, spacing, moving and grading in accordance with the production plan
• Make recommendations on whether stock is fit to move or sell
• Work with and direct small teams to get set tasks done in accordance with the daily or weekly plan
• Lead by example with a positive attitude, especially when the things don’t go to plan
• Thinking about how your work and actions impacts other departments to ensure we all meet our goals

About You

You have a horticulture qualification or equivalent experience, and hold an active ChemCert and forklift licence (or willing to obtain). There is limited to no public transport to get here so you will need access to a reliable vehicle and a current driver’s licence. You also need to be the type of person that is happy to muck in and alter the plan if something goes astray – the weather, crew availability, a big customer order can all change the plan. We want someone who is flexible enough to pause the plan, work in dispatch to support getting out a big customer order and then go back to production once things are back on track but also call for assistance to get your work done too.

Other qualities you should hold:

• You notice a change before it turns into a problem and you work proactively to do something about it
• You bring ideas, and are open to continuing to learn and change your perspective
• You are careful and precise with a strong attention to detail
• You are comfortable to learn our systems and use them
• You are happy to work alongside the team on whatever the site needs that day – we don’t operate in silos at Cameron’s, we are one team!

Experience or qualifications with integrated pest management, fertigation, first aid, a forklift licence, accreditation experience (NIASA, EcoHort, HACCP, WHS etc), record keeping and using technology will be an advantage – but we want you to be honest about your gaps so we can provide a better training and development plan.

If you read this ad and think you don’t hit all of the requirements but you have some great experience – we’d love to hear from you anyway with why you think you’d be a great fit for this role or for our team!

You must have ongoing working rights in Australia; we are not able to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

Salary and Conditions

This is a permanent full-time role

$30 to $35 per hour plus super depending on experience and qualifications.

There may be occasional weekend or overtime hours required and the opportunity to earn more during our peak periods or based on the needs of the business.